EDINBURG, Texas --- The UT Arlington volleyball team (15-7, 7-3) will conclude the road portion of its regular season schedule with a 2 p.m. matchup on Saturday against UTRGV (19-5, 8-1) inside the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The Mavs will ride a four-match winning streak into town as they look to further solidify one of the top eight seeds in the WAC Tournament. Meanwhile, UTRGV lost for the first time in conference play on Thursday to Stephen F. Austin, and those two teams are now tied for first place in the standings with UTA in sole possession of fourth.
EIGHT IS GREAT
Fourth-year libero
Alli Wells was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, joining
Kortney Puckett in giving UT Arlington back-to-back winners of the award. It was the first time the Mavs have claimed back-to-back conference defensive player of the week selections since Wells did it Oct. 13 and 20 of 2020 in the Sun Belt. Overall, Wells now has eight career such awards.
Wells, who totaled 53 digs in the two victories last week including a season-high 33 against Abilene Christian, added 20 more in Thursday's win over New Mexico State, which gives her six matches with 20-plus digs through 10 WAC contests. Doing so has allowed her to move up to eighth on the program's all-time list with 1,565 as she passed Ana de Oliveira (1,550, 1985-88) and Torie Dacus (1,564, 2004-07. Overall, she has 37 matches with 20-plus digs in her career, including 10 this season.
Despite having her 26-match streak of consecutive double-digit digs snapped against New Orleans on Sept. 16, Wells ranks 37th in total career digs (1,565) among all active NCAA Division I players. This year alone, Wells ranks 37th nationally in total digs (391) and 77th in digs per set (4.39).
| UTA CAREER DIGS |
| 1. |
Alicia Shaffer |
2,033 |
2008-11 |
| 2. |
Ashley Smith |
1,921 |
2003-06 |
| 3. |
Amber Pack |
1,887 |
1999-02 |
| 4. |
Caitlyn Cooney |
1,820 |
2012-15 |
| 5. |
Jessica Bowlin |
1,728 |
1995-98 |
| 6. |
Qiana Canete |
1,626 |
2014-17 |
| 7. |
Judith McGill |
1,623 |
1983-86 |
| 8. |
Alli Wells |
1,565 |
2019-present |
| 9. |
Torie Dacus |
1,564 |
2004-07 |
| 10. |
Ana de Oliveira |
1,550 |
1985-88 |
AN OFFENSIVE FORCE
Brianna Ford, an Amarillo, Texas native, has led UT Arlington to a 15-7 start this year behind career-bests across the board – kills per set (3.39), hitting percentage (.246), digs per set (2.67), assists per set (0.25), blocks per set (0.83) and points per set (4.12). The third-year outside hitter has notched 12 of her team-best 25 career double-doubles this season, and those performances have propelled her into the top five in the WAC in total points (2nd, 367), points per set (2nd, 4.12), total kills (2nd, 302), total attacks (3rd, 779) and kills per set (4th, 3.39). She ranks 34th nationally in total points. Overall, she has 17 matches with 10+ kills and 14 with 10+ digs. She is currently riding an eight-match streak with at least 10 kills. Award-wise, Ford became the program's first-ever WAC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 12, was named the MVP in both the UTA Invitational and UTSA Invitational, and she earned a spot on the UTA Classic all-tourney team.
DEFENSIVE STOPPER
Third-year middle blocker
Kortney Puckett has been an important factor in UTA's four-match winning streak. In the Oct. 15 win over Seattle, she either tied or set new career-highs in kills (11), digs (7) and aces (2) while also notching a season-high-tying six blocks. She followed that up with nine kills, four digs and five blocks against Abilene Christian, where she recorded the match-winning kill in the fifth set. Her increased performance led to a WAC Defensive Player of the Week selection Oct. 17, which allowed her to join a group of now five Mavs to win a weekly conference award this year. The others include
Brianna Ford on Sept. 12 (offensive player of the week),
Jalie Tritt on Sept. 19 (freshman of the week),
Sophie Skinner on Sept. 12 (freshman of the week) and
Alli Wells on Oct. 24 (defensive player of the week).
CENTURY WOMEN
With their performances against Utah Valley and Seattle recently, the duo of
Kortney Puckett and
Briana Brown each surpassed 100 career blocks, joining
Brianna Ford,
Meredith Fisher,
Brooke Townsend and
Devon Martinka among the group of Mavericks to reach the milestone. Ford and Fisher reached it earlier this year while Townsend (2020) and Martinka (2021) reached it in previous seasons.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
Behind the play of those six and others, UT Arlington ranks among the nation's leaders in total blocks (19th, 217), blocks per set (49th, 2.44), total digs (57th, 1,336), win-loss percentage (64th, .682) and opponent hitting percentage (67th, .182). Among conference foes, they lead all teams in total blocks while ranking second in blocks per set behind Utah Valley (2.55) and total aces (134) behind Stephen F. Austin (139).
STREAKING INTO THE RECORD BOOK
UT Arlington had a nine-match winning streak snapped against California Baptist on Oct. 6. It represented the program's longest streak over the past 20 years behind the 2002 squad's 17-match surge. Overall, the streak tied the 1985 and 1987 teams for the 15th-longest all-time, which dates back to 1973.
ROAD COURT ADVANTAGE
In WAC play, the Mavericks are an impressive 5-1 away from home.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
UT Arlington is 5-1 in five-set matches this year, including wins in five straight after dropping a five-set match to North Dakota on Aug. 27. Among those victories, the Mavs dropped the opening set against Providence, trailed UTSA 2-0, came back against Lamar after being down 2-1 and held off ACU after losing a two-set lead.
KILLIN' IT
Fifth-year senior
Brooke Townsend joined the 1,000 kill club last year. On Thursday, she slammed home a season-best 17 kills to jump Fannie Burton (1,245, 1991-94) and Teresa Ogden (1,251, 1982-83) into 10th place on the program's all-time list. The fifth-year outside hitter has 10 matches with at least 10 kills this year. Her 1,260 career total ranks 52nd among all active NCAA Division I players, and she is 54th in career sets played with 466.
| UTA CAREER KILLS |
| 1. |
Heather Hoy |
1,787 |
1994-97 |
| 2. |
Ana de Oliveira |
1,729 |
1985-88 |
| 3. |
Amber Pack |
1,578 |
1999-2002 |
| 4. |
Qiana Canete |
1,505 |
2014-17 |
| 5. |
Valeria Whitfield |
1,490 |
1990-92 |
| 6. |
Caley Smith |
1,416 |
2001-04 |
| 7. |
Judith McGill |
1,407 |
1983-86 |
| 8. |
Trisha Walker |
1,344 |
1997-2000 |
| 9. |
Chris Rudiger |
1,330 |
1986-89 |
| 10. |
Brooke Townsend |
1,260 |
2018-Pres. |
BLANK REACHES MILESTONE
Third-year setter
Mollie Blank, who has recorded 109 assists over the past five matches, notched her 1,000th career assist against North Dakota on Aug. 27 and has increased her current total to 1,194. She has also recorded a pair of double-doubles over the past four matches, which has pushed her career total to 19.
SOLID PRESENCE
Alyssa Duran, a third-year defensive specialist, recorded back-to-back matches with double-digit digs to finish up the UTA Invitational Sept. 17, including a season-best 15 in the come-from-behind win over Lamar University in five sets, and she has produced four matches with double-digits this year overall - including 10 against Sam Houston recently. She has totaled at least seven digs in seven of the past nine matches.
AWARD-WINNING SUCCESS AT HOME
The Mavs tallied a 5-2 record at home in non-conference play behind strong individual performances in the UTA Classic (Sept. 3-4) and UTA Invitational (Sept. 16-17).
Brianna Ford, who produced three double-doubles over the six matches combined, was named the UTA Invitational MVP and made the all-tournament team in the UTA Classic.
Jalie Tritt made the all-tournament team in both events.
Brooke Townsend also made the UTA Invitational All-Tournament team.
SKINNER JOINS ELITE GROUP
Including her performance against California Baptist on Oct. 6,
Sophie Skinner has notched 40-plus assists five times this year. In fact, since being inserted into the starting lineup on Sept. 3 against Providence, she has recorded at least 26 in all but five matches and at least 30 in 11 of 18, including eight of the past 13.
On Oct. 8 against Grand Canyon, she produced 36 assists to become just the ninth freshman in program history with at least 500 in a season, joining teammates
Mollie Blank (502, 2020) and
Jessica Stancliff (2019, 787) in the prestigious group. The Hot Springs, Ark. native previously earned UTSA All-Tournament and WAC Freshman of the Week recognition. Overall, she has registered 612 assists, 131 digs, 28 kills and 18 aces this year. In fact, her assist total currently places her seventh for most in program history by a freshman - just behind Stancliff.
Prior to UTA, Skinner competed in the Under Armour All-America Game this past December, which recognizes the most skilled high school players in the country. She was named MVP among the 24 players selected to participate.
BACK-TO-BACK
UT Arlington produced back-to-back conference freshman of the week awards for just the second time in program history behind the play of
Jalie Tritt (Sept. 19) and
Sophie Skinner (Sept. 12). Tritt helped the Mavs capture the UTA Invitational championship that week by averaging 2.5 kills, 1.9 digs and 0.7 blocks per set, while Skinner averaged 9.1 assists and 2.2 digs per set in the UTSA Invitational.
EXPERIENCE RETURNS
The Mavericks have three players who scored over 270 points last season (
Briana Brown,
Brooke Townsend,
Brianna Ford), returning 76 percent of their total points from a season ago overall. Furthermore, two all-conference selections from a season ago in
Briana Brown (First Team All-SBC) and
Alli Wells (Second Team All-SBC) are back, as well as former All-SBC selections in
Brooke Townsend (2019, 2020) and
Brianna Ford (2020).
NEW FACES
The Mavericks brought in four new faces to the program this season –
Sophie Ocampo (Humble, Texas; Kingwood HS),
Jalie Tritt (Little Rock, Ark.; Episcopal Collegiate School),
Ava Burroughs (Quitman, Texas; Quitman HS), and
Sophie Skinner (Hot Springs, Ark.; Fountain Lake HS). Three of the four have seen significant action this year while Ocampo will redshirt.
FORD SPENDS 20TH IN EUROPE
Brianna Ford spent her 20th birthday in Europe as she participated in the 2022 Global Challenge in Croatia, helping lead her team to a 1st place finish and being named to the all-tournament team.
FOLLOW THE MAVS
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